WALES prop Iestyn Thomas admits turning up the heat at the national squad's training camp has taken away the breath of the players.

As if the heatwave sweeping the nation was not enough, the Welsh management turned on the heaters at their Vale of Glamorgan indoor training centre in a bid to acclimatise the squad to the 36 C weather conditions they are likely to encounter Down Under.

Llanelli star Thomas said, "It was unbelievably hot in there. As soon as you opened the door, the heat just hit you in the face like a wall.

"It was hard to get your breath at first. At one stage the temperature was up to 36 C, which was sweltering, but it's all part of trying to acclimatise us to conditions in Australia.

"It takes some getting used to, however, especially for someone born in Pontypool."

Thomas experienced extreme conditions on the Wales tour to Japan in 2001 when he played in both Tests in the heat and humidity of Osaka and Tokyo.

And he admitted that the debilitating effects of such conditions were stark.

"The heat just saps your energy so much that everything you do requires a little more effort than usual," he said.

"You must lose a fair few kilos by the end of the game and our shirts were soaked through.

"It was pretty hot in the scrum in particular. The worst thing is that your face is covered with your opposite number's sweat.

"The most important thing is to take on as much liquid as possible. Every time play stopped we were having a drink, otherwise your movements and thoughts become sluggish in the heat.

"Those are things that we are going to have to get used to when we're out in Australia. It will be a lot hotter out there than last month when it was their winter."